


Lovesick

by apricotzel



Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Henry Stickmin uses he/they pronouns, Henry is bad at feelings, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Pining Charles Calvin, Pining Henry Stickmin, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, henry can see all the timelines, no beta we die like charles, selective mute henry stickmin, stickmintwt this is for you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25971259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apricotzel/pseuds/apricotzel
Summary: "It was almost ridiculous. He was Henry Stickman. He had robbed a bank, broke out of prison, stole a priceless diamond, infiltrated an airship, escaped from one of the most top-notch complexes, and stopped a space station from launching. He had seen empires rise and fall with him being the reason for it, and yet this simple crush rendered him so small."Some Henrles fluff for your soul, where a pining Henry is very, very, very bad at hiding his feelings.
Relationships: Charles Calvin & Henry Stickmin, Charles Calvin/Henry Stickmin
Comments: 43
Kudos: 593
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	Lovesick

**Author's Note:**

> !!Henry goes by he/they in this fic!!

Henry Stickmin was lovesick. 

He had it  _ bad _ . Like really, really  _ bad.  _

Like he turned into a stumbling, blushing mess as soon as they entered the room bad. Any time they so much glanced in their direction, their stomach twisted and flipped. 

Henry was lovesick for the one and only Charles Calvin. 

As if it wasn’t bad enough he worked with Charles, Charles was his best friend. That means Henry was especially vulnerable to all the ways for him to steal his heart. With every playful wink or click of the tongue, he shoots a playful finger gun. Henry is forced to hide his face with his hands and glance away, whenever Charles did something successfully and turned to Henry with his smile wide and eyes sparkling like stars on water Henry had to frantically sign a ‘good job’ and look away shyly.

The funniest thing was they weren’t even the one who noticed their feelings for Charles first; it was Ellie.

One day, after a successful mission against the Toppats, Charles had pulled them both into the helicopter before turning away to fly them away.

Henry’s gaze must have lingered gently on Charles for too long as he had felt a sharp nudge on his side. He turned to look at Ellie, raising one eyebrow at him, a sly smirk dawned upon her face. After receiving a confused glance from Henry, she had rolled her eyes.

‘Do you like him?’ Ellie had signed.

‘He’s my friend, of course, I like him,’ Henry had signed back.

Ellie had exhaled exasperatedly, ‘No, I mean, do you have a crush on him?’

If humans could have short-circuited, Henry would’ve. He weakly signed a ‘Don’t be silly’ as he glanced away and stare out to the sky as he felt himself grow redder. That was when they realized. He  _ did, _ in fact, like Charles.

No, he  _ loved _ Charles. They adored everything about him. From the way, his hair would fall gently over his eyes when he just woke up to the way his freckles stood out the most at dawn. The way sunset would bathe his gray eyes a deep gold color, and the moon would seem to turn them to an untouchable silver. The way his laugh always quieted after the first two ‘haha’s before picking up again, to the way he smelt of cinnamon and campfire smoke. Everything about him seemed almost ethereal.

Henry had almost fallen out of the helicopter lost in his thoughts.

He wasn’t sure when he fell in love with Charles, if it ever was just one quick fall or if it was more of a gradual thing. Was it the time Henry had walked into Ellie teaching Charles sign language, only so Charles could communicate with Henry easier? Was it the time Charles had hugged him and not let go for five minutes after Henry returned after being presumed dead? Was it the time Charles had fallen asleep leaning against him as they stargazed? Or had it been from the very first moment Henry had met Charles, and it had just been a game of himself trying to ignore the fact he was slipping down a very steep slope that was falling in love with Charles Calvin.

Whatever it was, there was no denying it now. The sickness had only seemed to get worse since Henry realized. They had gone from being able to spend hours and hours around Charles to getting flustered after five minutes and running away.

It was almost ridiculous. He was Henry Stickman. He had robbed a bank, broke out of prison, stole a priceless diamond, infiltrated an airship, escaped from one of the most top-notch complexes, and stopped a space station from launching. He could see through timelines; he knew every way he could die. He stared death straight in the face and flipped it off. He had seen empires rise and fall with him being the reason for it, and yet this simple crush rendered him so small.

They were just so  _ scared. _ What if Charles didn’t like him back? What if Henry placed all of themself out there for Charles to see, and he just didn’t take it? It didn’t matter how many timelines they saw. They couldn’t live with that.

So they lived with the heart flutters and pink faces. They lived with the longing and the aching and the pining. After multiple failed attempts to shove or choke down the feelings, Henry had learned the hard way that he was stubborn, and this crush is not going away.

So there they stood, outside of their tent, watching the sunrise and turn clouds orange and pink. They were trying desperately to not think about Charles. 

“Hey, Henry!” A sudden voice next to him exclaimed. He turned to see Charles standing there, chipper as ever. His heart thumped loudly as Charles gave him a dazzling smile.

‘Who’s Henry?’ He signed without thinking, caught completely off guard by the man in front of him who seemed to outshine the sun itself.

“Uh,” Charles’ smile faded a bit as he tilted his head to the side in confusion, “You? Are you ok? Do you have brain damage?” Charles leaned in forward as he asked this, eyes squinted teasingly. Henry’s heart leaped into their throat as they frantically backed up, tripping over their own feet and almost falling.

‘No, just…’ Henry signed quickly as Charles straightened his poster, ‘Why are you up so early? You usually sleep longer.’ Henry decided to change the subject.

“Oh, well, uhm,” Charles looked away and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well, I know you like watching the sunrise so, I figured I’d...give it a shot?”

Charles’ face flushed a light pink, which Henry quickly chalked up to the summer morning heat. 

“Anyway,” Charles said, sounding desperate to clear out the small awkward pause between the two of them, “I can see why you like it, the clouds look...very nice. Definitely worth getting up at 4 AM for.”

Henry could easily see Charles was lying. The way his eyes blinked slowly made them seem like they weighed tons, and he could see dark circles under gray eyes.

‘Well,’ Henry signed, ‘This isn’t even the half of it; there’s a small hill nearby where you can watch the sunrise, and it looks much better than from here.’

“Oh?” Charles asked, before smiling softly, “You should show me!”

Maybe it was the soft, excited tone or the pale golden glow outlining him, but Henry almost died on the spot from Charles just then.

Looking down quickly to hide his blush, Henry nodded. 

‘Right, follow me,’ He signed, not wasting time pivoting on his heel and walking away.

He heard Charles’ following him closely behind as they headed out of camp, nodding to guards and walking a bit away.

Henry had memorized the path to the small area where the sunrise would be best viewed and hardly had to think as he walked. However, this left them with enough time to wonder.

As they began to climb the hill, Henry stared down into the dirt and sand, thinking. Why  _ was _ Charles there? He was not a morning person, no matter how much he tried to be. Why did Charles approach Henry, even? There were other people he could have talked to, and Henry knows he likes to spend mornings with Ellie. So why come to him of all people? Did he have something to say?

Henry felt his eyes widen as his stomach drop. What if Charles had noticed Henry’s pining? Had he caught on? Was Charles going to say something about it? What if he wanted to talk to Henry to let him down easy? No, even worse, what if he was creeped out and didn’t want to be friends anymore?

Henry’s palms were sweaty as he wiped them down on his pant legs, suddenly very anxious. No matter what his feelings were, Henry had never considered they could lose Charles permanently. Timelines, where he’s not friends with Charles, end up being the worst ones, despite all the money or power or fame. 

Henry glanced back absentmindedly and found that while absorbed in his thoughts, he had walked a little too far, Charles being a good few feet behind him now.

As Henry looked back, he misstepped and ended up falling on his knees as dirt and sand cascaded around him briefly.

They scrunched up their face as it got in their mouth and made a face of irritation. Henry stood up, shaking his hands and dusting himself off.

“Henry!” They heard Charles call. They didn’t turn around as they began to walk forward again, only to be halted by a hand gripping their forearm.

Henry turned to see Charles panting, apparently having run forward once he had seen Henry fall.

Charles’ hand moved down slowly from Henry’s forearm to Henry’s wrist, before stopping gently as he clasped their hand.

“Don’t leave me, ok?” Charles said.

Henry’s mouth went dry, and they numbly nodded. They didn’t know how to respond, so they just lightly squeezed Charles hand before continuing to walk.

The pair walked while holding hands until they got to the top, and the whole time Henry felt halfway between like he was floating, and he was shaking so bad his legs would give out. 

At the top of the hill, the view was easily worth the climb (and maybe worth getting up that early, if you’re Henry). The sun painted the whole landscape a pale gold and blue, with pink and orange splashed across the sky. The entire world seemed to be waking up at once, and anticipation hung heavily in the air.

The two people were still holding hands as they gazed out. Henry fought the urge to fidget. Could Charles feel how sweaty Henry’s hands were? What if he thought they were gross? Was Henry holding on for too long should they have let go by now? Did Charles even  _ want _ to hold hands, or had he just been offering a hand up in his odd, Charles way? Should he-

His thought process was cut off by Charles speaking, and it took Henry a second to process what the man next to him was saying.

“Henry, can we talk?” He had asked.

Henry wanted the hill to open up and swallow them whole they decided as they nodded yes. 

“Well, I- ugh,” Charles said, using his free hand to scratch at the back of his neck, “I don’t know where to begin- kind of ironic for me to not plan it, huh?”

He gave Henry a hesitant half-smile, which Henry thought was far more beautiful than any sunrise. 

“Anyway,” Charles continued, smile dropping as he stared out once more, “I, well, I kind of lied to you when I said why I got up to see the sunrise. I didn’t want to try it out; the truth is I just wanted to see you.”

Henry tried to calm their beating heart as Charles barely blinked before continuing. 

“We just seemed to be so distant, recently. We can hardly talk five minutes before one of us runs off. Something is different.”

Henry felt a pang of guilt shake him. He hadn’t realized his frantic running away had had this much of an impact on their relationship. The last thing they wanted to do was make Charles upset.

“And that something is me,” Charles added on.

The silence seemed to swamp them as Charles’ grip on Henry’s hand suddenly tightened. Henry saw Charles squeeze his eyes shut.

“HenryIlikeyou,” Charles seem to spit out with force. He paused, relaxing, looking almost guilty. “A lot, actually. Like, a lot, a lot. I don’t know, just recently I’ve noticed I just...adore you. Everything about you: you have brown in your eyes, did you know that? Just tiny flecks of brown and gold, heh. And-and when you talk about stars, you get all excited, and you flush. The moonlight always makes you look like a constellation yourself. You just- you amaze me. You’re so brave and fearless and stunning. I guess I just...didn’t know what to do.”

Henry was speechless, and he wasn’t prepared when Charles turned to him with a face so red Henry could no longer chalk it up to the summer heat.

“Oh, geez, are you crying?” Charles exclaimed.

Henry snapped back to reality, realizing that tears were brimming on the edge of their eyes. A fast blink set them tracking down his face.

“I-I’m sorry this was probably too much at once,” Charles said, dropping Henry’s hand. “It’s ok if you don’t feel the same way it’s ok I get it I understand I-”

“I do,” Henry croaked out.

Both of them stared in shock. Henry blinked, quickly recovering. He instinctively ducked his head to avoid Charles’ gaze as he signed.

‘I do feel the same way. I just didn’t know how to say it either. You call me brave or fearless, but the reason I’ve been avoiding you was because I was so scared of you rejecting me.’ 

There was a beat of silence before Charles spoke.

“You...were scared of me? Rejecting you? I was avoiding you because I was scared of  _ you _ rejecting  _ me _ !”

Henry glanced up to see Charles smiling. They felt their own face begin to grin.

‘I was so busy avoiding you; I didn’t even notice you avoiding me!’

“Well, I was so busy avoiding you, I didn’t even notice you being too busy avoiding me to notice I was avoiding you!”

‘Well, I was so busy avoiding you, I didn’t even notice you being too busy avoiding me to notice me being too busy avoiding you to notice you avoiding me!’

“Well, I- wait, what?” Charles’ asked, tilting his head in confusion before laughing. Henry felt their shoulders shake as they stifled laughs.

They both calmed down eventually.

‘So, now what?’ Henry asked, taking the first bold step he had in a while.

“I don’t know. We don’t have to rush or anything, but you can- if you want to,” Charles stressed, “I wouldn’t mind you calling me your boyfriend…” Charles trailed off. Henry noticed one new thing about Charles. He also looked away when he was blushing.

‘I think I would like that,’ Henry signed once Charles looked back up. ‘Do you know anything about dating?’

“Nope!” Charles answered confidently with a wide grin. “I do know that I’m a little less scared now, though.”

Henry smiled. ‘Yeah, me too.’

But he was just as lovesick.

Yes! Henry Stickmin was lovesick. 

He had it  _ bad _ . Like really, really  _ bad.  _

Like he turned into a stumbling, blushing mess as soon as they entered the room bad. Any time they so much glanced in their direction their stomach twisted and flipped. 

Henry was lovesick for his boyfriend, the one and only Charles Calvin.

**Author's Note:**

> stickmintwt,,,i hope this helped heal your souls


End file.
